While it is indeed a rehashing of the North American release with the two added "ultra bosses" and a japanese script there is one reason to want the international version above and beyond being a japanophile and that would be the international disc. This little goody that came packed with the game on it's second japanese release had a full listing of materia, character descriptions, maps and I believe (though I can't be sure) strategies for the game. Sadly it is in japanese so only those with far superior linguistics than most of us or those with masochistic bends need apply. As for a question, how about the Growlanser series. Do you know anything of this series of games that will, barring any further push backs, be gracing our fair soil sometime this October. I personally can't wait to put it through it's paces. Thanks for listening to the rambling from my skull.

Fyr

Googleshng:
Well, all of that can be found in a cheap used strategy guide or better yet, free on this or one of countless
other websites.

As far as Growlanser goes, well, we have someone playing through our review copy right now, I'll get his
opinion on it next chance I get.

I'll do it later.

Googlemesh,

I know I'm a little late on chiming in on the delayed game front, but
school work has quelled my rage long enough. Growlanser, Shin Megami
Tensi: Nocture, and of course Star Ocean: Waited Until the End of Time have
all really got me questioning how software companies can justify this.
Now, if I was to ask for an extension on my homework, my teachers would
scoff at me, but programmers can move back release dates more than once? I
mean, how many times has Growlanser been delayed now? It has to be at
least 4 times.

So, I've developed a not-so-genius way to vent my rage and frustration. I
bought Star Ocean, even though it was delayed a billion times and haven't
touched it. It's still in the wrapping. I've opted to play Phantom Brave
(great, not as great as Disgea) and Megaman before it. I'm even
considering buying the X-men game and playing that before Star Ocean. I
will therefore have a psychological advantage over the game when I finally
decide it to pay it some attention. I'll show them...

And finally a question: Have you played the new Megaman game yet? I'm
about 20+ hours in and am enjoying myself a ton, even though the story
sucks. Amazing how much you miss a straight forward RPG after the Action
RPG onslaught.

Blane

Googleshng:
Well, when a company gives a release date, that's a guess at when they'll have it ready. If you insisted
that people released games on the first date they ever gave, we'd have an awful lot of games with totally
incoherent translations, disc read errors, and massive bugs causing them to freeze halfway in. Personally,
I'd rather just wait the extra week. As for 2890 there (which is what I'm calling MMXCM today despite
the fact that the actual roman numerals there would be a bit longer), nope, I haven't had a chance to
play it. I've been too busy with Pikmin 2, Phantom Brave, SHC, and poverty.

Thou hast defeated the slime!

In response to the Duke of Otterland, the Fullmetal Alchemist anime
series will begin airing on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim at the
beginning of November, and the first DVD of it is set for a January 2005
release in North America. Hence, it will make some sense to release a
game based on the series.

As for recent Dragon Quest games... I seem to recall that we already got
the most recent game in the main series already. It also seemed that it
didn't do as well as Enix hoped, which may explain why we didn't get
DQ4's remake, which came out later than DQ7 did in Japan.

P.S. Whatever happened to Torneko 3? It's game page only lists the
release date in Japan as "2003" instead of a date.

--
R. Bemrose

Googleshng:
Well, as far as I can tell, it slipped out in October of 2002 in Japan, and then fell off everyone's
radar. That happens entirely too often with games that don't get international releases really.

Multiplayer Fun

My friends and I recently got our hands on X-Men Legends, and we've been
having a blast. Sad thing is, I suspect we're nearing the end of the game.
We really get into console multi-player RPGs, and this title turned out to
be more of an RPG than I first expected. But like I said; we're almost done
with it.

Now we've played Phantasy Star Online's nifty offline mode. We got bored
with that when our guys grew past level 100 and moved on. Final Fantasy
Crystal Chronicles is a game we enjoy, but after a while it invokes quite a
lot of fighting. Sometimes it's little things like one of us taking off with
the chalice and leaving the other players to the poison air, and others it
becomes immature bickering over stats and equipment. So...we only pick that
one up once in a while. Legend of Zelda: Four Swords was another title we've
tried, but one of my friends and my sister beat it and we all just kind of
lost interest. We attempted Tales of Symphonia, but it was just too boring
for the people who weren't the first player. So after we beat X-Men we'll
probably just go back to playing Super Smash Bros. Melee all night.

So I'd like to ask; are there any good multi-player RPGs around that we
might have missed? I'd really appreciate some suggestions or info.

Also, I believe the quote on the home page is from Mega Man X Command
Mission, which despite it's horrible dub is still a pretty fun game.

Thanks for your time,
Shane McCloud

Googleshng:
Yep, have a tilde. ~

Anyway, the biggies are Secret of Mana and Diablo 2 in my book. Really though, when I have a lot of friends
over, I'm more for playing an RPG of the more traditional, paper based variety.

People need to get out more.

I could complain about seveal games being delayed. Shin Megami Tensei
being, of course, the big one, especially as I've reserved it. I might
complain about Growlanser only because I've fully paid for the bastard (the
deluxe version, I should mention). I might mention Duke Nukem Fourever, but
that's like saying Bush looked like a deer in headlines at the presidential
debates. It's just not funny anymore.

No, I'm complaining because I still have yet to see Sakura Taisen come, or
even be officially announced in the states. I mean, what's the deal? The
only dating sims you can buy in the United States are ones involving the
word "my massive man sausage" and have the words "English versions
uncensored!". (OK, there was "Thousand Arms", but I couldn't get beyond the
grating battle music.)

How may games let you woo multiple women and then take them out onto the
field of battle? How many games involve giving chocolates and has a cute
lady in glasses (oh, girls in glasses, how I love thy sex appeal) who can
build stuff? Yes, I know that "eventually" we'll get Sakura Taisen 5, but
at least give us 1 to we have some clue as to what the hell is going on in
this odd universe. (Though cowgirls in miniskirts riding horses is
cool.)

Sega, I know your pissed off at us ever since we actually made a sequel to
"Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure", but how long does your wrath last?
Forgive us, and let us have Sakura Taisen before I'm so old I'm the only one
left who remembers what "Star Wars" was like before Greedo shot first.

John Hummel

Googleshng:
OK, it needs to be said. The Sakura Wars games are NOT dating sims. They're TRPGs where, between fights,
you wander around talking the other characters in your party, in the hope of cheering them up, as their
giant steam powered robots get stronger when they're in a good mood. You could make a case for flirting,
but nope, no dating.

PS: One question if you wish to use it. When is the world going to see a
game like "Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball", but with the beefcake for
the girls? I mean, where were the guys in speedos? I don't want to see it,
but at least I could believe that Tecmo was at least being fair to the
ladies too.

Googleshng:
Actually, like I could have sworn I mentioned yesterday, in Shadow Hearts: Covenant here, to get new
spells for Gepetto, you have to give trading cards featuring big, burly, barely clothed guys to a mincing
foppish Parisian tailor in exchange for new dresses for his marionette. While you don't have to look at
these cards before handing them over, if you're looking for that sort of thing, look no further.

The Last Laugh:

The cards for dresses bit may be creepy, but seriously, Gepetto rocks.